


the unknown and then the known too

by tharunaway



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-05 20:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/727839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tharunaway/pseuds/tharunaway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She laughs because it’s funny. It’s so ridiculously ironic. She should not be diagnosed with this. She is a goddamn superhero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the unknown and then the known too

She tells Ollie a week before she’s scheduled to start chemotherapy. It’s after patrol and she’s gotten a little beat-up. Only on her face, she has a few scratches and Ollie took her back to his mansion to clean them up. Even though it’s barely fall, she’s already wearing her winter outfit, mainly because her bruises from two weeks ago have yet to disappear and they’re covering her torso in shades of purples and greens.

  
“Ollie?” She starts. He tilts his head towards her and she sighs. “I have to tell you something.”

  
“What Kiddo?” He’s not really paying attention to her. He’s busy cleaning his bow. They’ve started an after patrol ritual: cleaning their bows together. “If this is about you and Wally, I know about that.”

  
Artemis almost begins to laugh because really, Ollie? He totally already knows about her and Wally, because it’s September and they’ve been together for about eight months and he has been teasing her about it for all eight of them. But then she remembers what she has to tell him and she sobers. “I can’t be your partner anymore.” She rushes it out but he still catches it because he turns to look at her full-on.

  
“Why? Because you missed a target by about a centimeter tonight?”

  
“No.” Artemis pauses. “Well, yes.” She hadn’t been able to concentrate because she was more focused on the fact that she was nauseous over the fact of telling him, rather than the fact that she should’ve been aiming for the guy’s sleeve, not his shoulder.

  
“Well, you shouldn’t. I’ve made bigger mistakes than that and I’ve been doing this longer than you.”

  
“No- Ollie, that’s not why.” She clears her throat and puts a hand out to stop him from saying anything. She thinks on it for a few moments before speaking. “I have Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. You’re the only one to know besides my mom. My first treatment of chemotherapy starts next Monday. I wanted you to be there with me when I tell Batman that I have to leave the team for an undetermined amount of time.” She says that slowly and calculated. She’s going to have to repeat it to the team and to Wally. Maybe even to Jade if she doesn’t figure it out on her own.

  
Ollie’s face had previously been smiling. But then his mouth shuts and his eyes shift lower and his head shakes. Artemis sees emotions cross his face, but she’s never been that good at reading people, unless they’re lying. So she doesn’t know what the emotions are. “Did you- uh- second opinion?”

  
She nods, feeling ashamed of herself that she has stupid cancer and she’s not going to be Green Arrow’s partner. He’ll replace her, just like her dad did. “My mom and I went to several doctors. They all said the same thing. I have a treatment plan in place. I asked all of them if I could keep up with sports, you know, like the whole superhero thing-“ She tucks a piece of hair (God, it’s going to fall out.) behind her ear. “without saying those words, but they said I would be too tired for it. And I-I was going to do it anyway. Until I couldn’t, anyway, but my mom said she would call Batman herself.”

  
Ollie’s stepped closer to her and he’s nodding to himself, processing. “Artemis, how are you feeling?”

  
“Fine.” She spits out automatically. It’s what she’s been telling her mom and the therapist that her team of doctors has agreed that she should be sent to, because she’s only seventeen and she might die. It could be going better but she doesn’t know how to tell that damn therapist, a complete stranger, that she’s scared. She’s scared that Ollie’s going to stop caring since she won’t be needed. She’s worried that no one on the team is going to deem her worth the time. That Wally isn’t going to want some bald chick as a girlfriend. So she says fine and she thinks that it’s a perfect substitute.

  
Ollie looks at her though, with eyes that are telling her that he knows she’s lying.

  
She says, “Okay.” Because it’s not fine and she can’t say perfect, because that’s an even bigger lie then fine, she’ll just say okay. Artemis thinks that’s true. Right now, she is okay.

  
“How about I show you the Watchtower and we talk to Batman? Your mom won’t be too upset, will she?”

  
Artemis wants to be angry about the fact that he wants to get it over with and all, but she can’t because he should be talking to Batman about suitable replacements and all of that. Plus, she needs to tell Batman sooner than later, because she can’t go on missions starting Monday. Or at least not go frequently on missions. “No. She won’t.” Her mom will probably be worried, but Artemis will send her a text and she’ll be perfectly okay with it.

  
“Good.” He gets up and gives her a hug that she almost reciprocates. “I’ll go through first and I’ll authorize you for the Watchtower.”

  
After Ollie goes through, she waits a few minutes. She doesn’t want to go through that beam. The more people she tells, the more real it will be. Sure, she actually got the news two weeks ago. But she’s been sitting on it since then. She’d hoped that she could keep it a secret for the entire time of treatment. But her mom had sat her down and told her that it wouldn’t work. That Mr. Queen was going to need a substitute, if it was necessary, and that she wasn’t going to let her sick daughter run around fighting crime when she could hardly walk and when she was downing pills and toxic chemicals.

  
For the few minutes, she sends a text to her mom and fiddles with her own bow. She notices that Ollie left his primary bow on the work table, along with the first aid kit he used to put antibiotic cream on her face.

  
A few minutes after Ollie, she punches in her code, steps in, and hears the normal “Artemis, B07.” It’s familiar and somehow calms the heart that’s been thundering in her chest since the night started.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure exactly what this is or what it's going to end up being. But I needed fluffy Wally/Artemis, and that can be achieved in this. Along with angsty Artemis.


End file.
